PORT HURON, Mich. – The Port Huron man accused of shooting and killing his son and injuring two of his other children will be undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.
The shooting happened on Sept. 11 at an apartment complex on Glenview Court near the intersection of Kraft Road and 24th Avenue.
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Previous coverage --> Father accused of killing son, hurting his 2 other kids in Port Huron shooting, police say
A 17-year-old boy, a 13-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl were taken to a hospital with gunshot wounds.
The 17-year-old boy died from his injuries at the hospital.
The children’s father, a 44-year-old man, was arrested at the scene.
The man was charged with multiple felonies, including murder, assault with intent to murder and child abuse.
According to court documents, he was arraigned in circuit court on Oct. 27 and stood mute. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.
Local 4 learned that the man’s attorney told prosecutors on Nov. 6 that they intend to file a motion for an insanity defense. His attorney asked the court to schedule the 44-year-old father to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
Previous criminal history
Local 4 previously learned that the man was charged with indecent exposure earlier this year. The man pleaded guilty in that case and was scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 11, the day the shooting happened.
What neighbors said the morning of the shooting
Neighbors told Local 4 in September that the man was a maintenance worker at the complex.
They described the morning of the shooting, recalling how they woke up to the sound of the kids’ mother calling for help.
“At around 6 a.m. this morning, a woman came running to our apartment door asking for help, very frantic. She was bleeding all over the sidewalk,” Gabriel Baker, a resident of the apartment complex, said on Sept. 11.
Several neighbors began making calls to 911, and Jennifer Goddard and her husband rushed to help.
“I shot up and ran out the front door, and as I was running out the front door, I met the boy at the end of my sidewalk,” Goddard said. “He was just covered in blood.”
Goddard said she tried to comfort the injured 12-year-old while police arrived and arrested the man.
Police said that before officers responded to the scene, the kids’ mother and their 20-year-old sibling fought the man during the shooting to prevent further harm.
Goddard also told Local 4 that she was not only neighbors with the man, but had known him since high school, and was in disbelief when she learned what had happened.
“It was just sad,” Goddard said. “Devastating that it’s the kids.”